China sets 2013 GDP growth target at 7.5%

China maintains its 2013 gross domestic product (GDP) growth target unchanged at around 7.5 percent this year and continue a prudent monetary policy, Premier Wen Jiabao said Tuesday, according to the official Xinhua News Agency. This marks the second consecutive year for the world's second-largest economy to target growth at 7.5 percent. "We should make our proactive fiscal policy play a bigger role in ensuring steady growth, adjusting the economic structure, advancing reform and benefiting the people, as well as maintaining a balance between boosting economic growth, keeping prices stable and guarding against financial risks," Wen told nearly 3,000 national legislators at the opening session of the annual National People's Congress, China's top legislature.  In 2012, the government cut the forecast rate for the first time in eight years from a longstanding annual goal of 8 percent. China's economic growth eased further to a 13-year low of 7.8 percent in 2012, from 9.2 percent recorded in 2011. The Chinese government also decides to rein in inflation more decisively by lowering the control target of this year's consumer price index increase to around 3.5 percent, compared with 4 percent targeted last year. The government cooled down the inflation rate to 2.6 percent year-on-year in 2012, and the inflation rate eased further to 2 percent in January.